Die holder



July 18, 1961 R. E. GROSS 2,992,607

DIE HOLDER Filed Jan. 4, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig. 1 9 9- 2 22 27 3'/ INVENTOR.

H15 Arro/eue Y R. E. GROSS July 18, 1961 DIE HOLDER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fild Jan. 4, 1960 Y e M ii 2% United States Patent sylvania Filed Jan. 4, 1960, Ser. No. 126 Claims. (Cl. 101-28) The invention relates generally to die holders and more particularly to die holders to be held in the hand while striking the same to impress the die characters into the article being marked.

The principal object of this invention is the provision of a die holder wherein the anvil is provided with a striking head and is pivotally supported within the holder so that it may always align itself with the ends of the shanks carrying the dies also retained within the holder. This permits the dies together with the anvil to seek a uniform engagement therebetween regardless of the slope of the work or member being stamped by the die.

Another object of this invention is the provision of a die having an elongated groove which permits it to move within the die holder to the limitations of the groove and thereby enable the consecutive die shanks to align themselves with the anvil to insure a good reproduction of thecharacters on the article being marked.

Another object is the provision of a die shank having an elongated groove that permits it to move within the die holder to the limitations of the groove and thereby enable the consecutive die shanks to align themselves with the anvil to insure a good reproduction of the characters on the article being marked.

Another object is the provision of a die shank having an elongated groove that permits it to have a limited longitudinal motion within a die holder.

Another object of this invention is the provision of a die holder provided with an upwardly open slot for receiving an anvil, the striking head of which extends upwardly above the body of the holder to avoid striking the body.

Another object is the provision of a die holder recessed for the purpose of aligning the die members on a cylindrical body to be marked.

Another object is the provision of a die holder carrying a plurality of dies for simultaneously marking adjacent lines on an article.

Other objects and advantages of this invention appear hereinafter in the following description and claims.

The accompanying drawings show for the purpose of exemplification without: limiting this invention or the claims thereto, certain practical embodiments illustrating the principles of this invention, wherein FIG. 1 is a view in side elevation of a die holder comprising this invention without the dies inserted therein.

FIG. 2 is a view in side elevation of a die holder with the dies held therein.

FIG. 3 is a view in vertical section showing the die holder as attached to a handle.

FIG. 4 is a horizontal section of the die holder illustrating the dies together with the locking shaft.

FIG. Sis a view in vertical section showing a die holder as applied to a cylindrical object being marked.

FIG. 6 is a side elevation of a die holder such as illustrated in FIG. 1 with the die members in place.

FIG. 7 is a view in side elevation showing a die holder for retaining two rows of dies.

Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawings the die holder is a bifurcated body 1 having a base with upstanding sides 2 and 3 forming the slot 4 above the die passage 5 that extends through the base. It will be noted that the die passage 5 is not as long nor as wide as the anvil member 6 which is slidable within the slot 4 between the sides 2 Patented July 18, 1961 and 3. As shown in FIG. 6, the anvil 6 is not as wide as the sides of the body at its lower end but is provided with the sloping sides 7 and 8 adjacent the rounded stn'king head 9 that extends above the body 1. The sides 2 and 3 are likewise sloped as indicated at 10 and below the top 11 of the sides 2 and 3.

The anvil 6 is provided .with a transverse opening '12 which has a greater vertical dimension than its lateral dimension. However, the lateral dimension is greater than the diameter of the aligned holes 13 in the sides 2 and 3. As shown in FIG. 1, the holes 13 are provided with a pin 14 that has a locking ring 15 at each end thereof and extends through the die holder and carries the roller sleeve 16 which is preferably made of mild steel tubing and which closely fits the pin 14 and has a slidable engagement in the slot 4 being within the transverse passage *12 of the anvil 6.

Since the slot 12 even though the pin 14 is surrounded by the sleeve *16 permits the anvil 6 to readily move up and down and swing within limits between the sides 2 and 3 of the holder. These limits of course depend upon the length of the bottom 17 of the anvil 6.

As shown in FIG. 1, a locking shaft 18 is provided with an operating arm or handle 20 that is slidable in the recess 22. On one side of the die holder the shaft 18 extends through the bore 23 in the body of the holder and passing through the die passage 5. As shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 the die holder is in its locked position with the handle 20 on the right side but in FIG. 1 the handle is shown on the left position which position presents the flat side 24 of the shaft 18 toward the die members 25. This permits the die members to he slid upwardly through the die passage 5 and into position. When the full number of dies which are eight in numher as illustrated in FIG. 6, are inserted in the die passage 5 the handle 20 is thrown to the position shown in FIGS. 2 and 4 to present the round surface of the shaft 18 in the slots 26 of the dies 25. This permits the dies to have limited movement up and down within the die passage 5 but retains the dies 25 within the holder 1.

As shown in FIG. 4, the shaft 18 is provided with an annular groove 27 in which is received the end of the set screw 28 that holds the shaft 18 in position. Opposite the set screw 28, the body 1 of the holder is provided with a ball member 30 which is held in a detent 31 that is deeper than the groove 27 by the spring 32 held in place by the plug screw 33. Thus the ball deten-t holds the shaft in the locked position as illustrated in FIG. 4.

When all of the dies are thus held, they have relative movement to slide up and down within the holder and so does the anvil 6 that slides therewith but always maintains engagement. Thus when the holder is placed on the articles to be marked the characters 34 at the ends of the shanks of the dies 25 will shove the anvil 6 upwardly and maintain a contact between the shank of each die and the anvil regardless of whether or not the holder is exactly held true. If the holder is tilted slightly by hand, each die member will still have one surface engagement with the anvil and the anvil will seek its own level. The head of the anvil is then struck with a hammer to impress the characters of the die on the article to be marked.

In FIG. 3, the pin -14 is replaced by the handle 35 which may be in the form of a tube 36 that has riveted thereto a composition handle 37 as by the rivets 38. This will permit the one to support the die holder on the article being marked without endangering the person grasping the handle. Again since the die holder or the handle is not formed integral with the die members and anvil, the holder and the handle will not transmit the shock or blow to these parts and thus provide not only 3 a level and insured marking but also a holder which will not sting the hands of the person operating the same. In the structure of FIG. 5 the bottom of the holder 1 is provided with a V-groove such as illustrated at 40.

This V-groove on opposite sides of the die passage 5 ex tends to the apex 41. The V-groove provides a ganging surface that mates with a cylindrical body such as indicated at 42. This view also shows how the striking of the top of the head 9 of the anvil meets the force to shove the dies 25 downwardly with the anvil 6 which movement is not in any way transmitted to the holder 1 or the handle 35.

As shown in FIG. 7, the holder .1 is provided with a single anvil 6 that is wider than that shown in the previous views owing to the fact that it must engage two sets of dies 25 held in the die slots 5 and 5 by the locking shafts 18 and 18. Thus two rows of characters may be produced by the double slotted die holder shown in FIG. 7 by a single anvil. This is permissible by reasons of the fact that each of the die members 25 is slidable independently owing to the groove 26 for-med therein and as shown in FIG. 7.

I claim:

1. A die holder for type consisting of a body having a base with spaced upwardly extending sides forming an anvil slot therebetween, a die passage extending downwardly from the bottom of said slot through said base to the under side thereof, said slot being wider and longer than said die passage, an anvil slidably mounted in said slot between said upwardly extending body sides, said anvil being wider and longer than said die passage, a striking head on said anvil extending above said upwardly extending body sides, a plurality of dies having their shanks fitted as a group to slide in said die passage with their shanks extending upwardly between said body sides and into said slot to engage and lift said anvil, the lower ends of said dies extending downwardly out of said die passage below said base to present their die characters for marking, each of said die shanks having transverse grooves, a locking shaft journaled in said base and having a portion projecting into said die passage to be received in each groove of each die shank to retain said die shanks in said die passage and maintain said anvil raised in said slot, transverse aligned openings in said body sides and in said anvil, pin means passing through said openings and locked relative to saidbody sides to retain said anvil slidably movable in said slot, said opening in said anvil being wider and longer vertically than the opening in said side to permit movement of said anvil in said slot in any direction in the plane of said slot to maintain engagement between said anvil and the tops of said die shanks when misaligned.

2. The die holder of claim 1 characterized by a rounded striking head on said anvil above said body sides.

3. The die holder of claim 1 characterized by a roller sleeve on said pin and extending through the transverse opening in said anvil.

4. The die holder of claim 1 characterized in that said pin means is a handle extending laterally from said body.

5. The die holder of claim 1 characterized in that said locking shaft has a flat side, an arm on said locking shaft to rotate its projecting portion out of said die passage and present said flat side thereto and pass the' shanks of said dies in and out of said die passage.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 672,2'25 Dorticus Apr. 16, 1901 1,179,839 Kamosis Apr. 18, 1916 1,501,100 Coffey July 15, 1924 2,043,442 McNeil June 9, 1936 2,271,500 Rickenbach Jan. 27, 1942 2,285,956 Weber June 9, 1942 2,557,000 Hohnes June 12, 1951 2,627,771 Phillips et al. Feb. 10, 1953 2,627,803 Pannier Feb. 10, 1953 

